Personal Digital Assistants – teachers prefer the personal

This paper will present the results of a small-scale project, funded by the UK Teacher Development Agency, where 13 teachers and 3 trainee teachers in one secondary school science department were given handhelds (Personal Digital Assistants or PDAs) with cameras and internet access for the academic year. The aims were: • to build capacity - enabling trainee teachers to share their mlearning practice; • to enable school based associate tutors to join the elearning community linked to the initial teacher training course and • to encourage reflective practice amongst trainee teachers by enabling access anytime and anywhere to blogs for recording their teaching experiences. However, initial indications are that not all these aims succeeded. The handhelds were viewed as personal devices rather than enabling access to a community of practice. Nearly all participants praised the personal information management functions of the devices but the teachers did not use the handhelds to access the course virtual learning environment and students did so only rarely. Email and SMS (texting) for both personal reasons and work within the school related context were more popular. Most popular were the multiple methods of recording available on the handheld: video, audio and written notes. Teachers used them to record observations on each others’ lessons, students’ work, student behaviour and trainees’ progress in teaching. Whilst the concept of blogging did not appeal and was not used by the trainee teachers, they did record personal reflections on their teaching in Word. Finally, there were clear signs that the handhelds were taken out of the participants’ pockets or bags to be used only when relevant and then replaced. This was perceived as a distinct advantage compared to desktop or even laptop based computers in the classroom with handhelds affording technology at a teacher’s side and not in their face.Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol United Kingdo

Defective Membrane Remodeling in Neuromuscular Diseases: Insights from Animal Models

Proteins involved in membrane remodeling play an essential role in a plethora of cell functions including endocytosis and intracellular transport. Defects in several of them lead to human diseases. Myotubularins, amphiphysins, and dynamins are all proteins implicated in membrane trafficking and/or remodeling. Mutations in myotubularin, amphiphysin 2 (BIN1), and dynamin 2 lead to different forms of centronuclear myopathy, while mutations in myotubularin-related proteins cause Charcot-Marie-Tooth neuropathies. In addition to centronuclear myopathy, dynamin 2 is also mutated in a dominant form of Charcot-Marie-Tooth neuropathy. While several proteins from these different families are implicated in similar diseases, mutations in close homologues or in the same protein in the case of dynamin 2 lead to diseases affecting different tissues. This suggests (1) a common molecular pathway underlying these different neuromuscular diseases, and (2) tissue-specific regulation of these proteins. This review discusses the pathophysiology of the related neuromuscular diseases on the basis of animal models developed for proteins of the myotubularin, amphiphysin, and dynamin families. A better understanding of the common mechanisms between these neuromuscular disorders will lead to more specific health care and therapeutic approaches